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I'm writing a Python script to unsubscribe in bulk from "spammy" email newsletters using the List-Unsubscribe header. Unfortunately, many spammers provide bogus links in there.

So, in that case, I would like to fake a bouncing email using the Return-Path, as if the mailbox did not exist, hoping this would get my mail address removed from spam newsletters. Problem is the email already got delivered on my mail server.

Is there a way to fake that or a standard error code to reply, and would this be at least somewhat efficient ?

Aurélien Pierre
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I have tried to go this way myself and learned the following lesson : The spammers don't look at their return mail and don't care whether their email bounces off or not. Your bounce messages will just disappear into the internet.

This is what happened to me : My bounced email had no effect - I continued getting these emails, my email addresses got sold, and the spam just grew and grew.

Work instead on your spam-filter, look for products that help, or change for email services like gmail that filter off the majority of spams. Don't waste your efforts on meaningless gestures.

harrymc
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  • Yep, learned the same thing. My approach is slightly different. I use a mail domain with catch all. Everywhere I need to use an emailaddress, I always use something different because anything before the @ goes. I usually come up with something that ties the emailaddress to the place I give it to. When I receive spam on an address, I have two options. 1: I know where the address is leaked and can change it there. 2: I can create a rule to just delete all incoming mails sent to that address. – LPChip Oct 23 '22 at 20:39
  • @LPChip: I reommend https://e4ward.com/ – harrymc Oct 23 '22 at 20:47
  • Yeah, this. I blacklisted certain very active German spam newsletters I receive. They don’t care. I just checked: The spam filter still shows over 20 mails yesterday even though they bounce. At least now my junk folder is “clean“. – Daniel B Oct 26 '22 at 18:44